


Disappointment

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 22:43:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21025955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Alex gets the stomach flu on tour, making the band cancel a signing.





	Disappointment

“Do you think Alex will actually want to cancel the signing? You guys know how anti-cancelling he is,” Zack asked, as he, Jack and Rian walked to Alex’s hotel room. They were currently abroad on tour, and they had a three-night stint at the same venue. The day before, Alex discovered that he’d caught the stomach flu. Luckily, since they were going to be in the same city for the next three days, they were in a hotel instead of the bus.   
They were set to have a CD signing in the early afternoon, which they were all looking forward to. Once it was discovered that Alex was sick, they’d talked about cancelling it, but Alex didn’t want them to make that decision until the morning of, for just in case he was feeling well enough to do it.   
“Knowing him, probably not. I haven’t seen him since we all went to bed last night, so I have no idea how he’s doing,” Jack explained.   
“Well, for his sake, hopefully he’s doing better. He seemed pretty miserable yesterday,” Rian added. Once they got to Alex’s room, Jack swiped his copy of the room key, and the three of them walked into the room. When they got in, they couldn’t find Alex.  
“Where the fuck is he?” Jack asked. Seconds later, they heard the sound of someone getting sick coming from the bathroom. The three of them looked at each other with concern. They sat down on the furniture near his bed, deciding to wait until he came back out to talk to him.   
His bedsheets were tousled, and there was a damp spot, which the boys assumed was sweat. There were wadded up tissues on his nightstand, a half-drunk glass of water, and his phone. A few minutes later, they heard the bathroom door open. Alex walked out, looking terrible. He was pale with flushed cheeks and dark circles under his eyes. He looked extremely tired and miserable.   
“Hey guys,” he rasped, walking over to the bed. He climbed in and bundled up in his covers as much as he could.  
“Hey man, how’re you feeling?” Jack asked his friend.  
“Not great, I feel pretty awful,” Alex replied.  
“Sorry to hear that. Since you’re not feeling the best, maybe we should cancel the signing. We have a concert tomorrow, and it would be better to cancel today, instead of having to tomorrow night,” Rian explained.  
“Man, I don’t want to do that,” Alex said, sounding bummed out.  
“We know you don’t want to, but it’s keeping the best interest of the band in mind. A signing is a lot easier to reschedule than a concert,” Zack added.  
“And, we can tell you’re miserable, dude. I know you want to give your all to the fans, but your health is important. Plus, you don’t want to get them sick,” Jack said.  
“I guess you guys are right. I’d hate to give this shit to a fan, especially since it’s a signing. Like, I’d have to touch all of the posters and CDs and stuff, and I’d feel really bad if I got someone sick. I hate to say this, but I guess we should cancel it,” Alex replied, coughing some.  
“I’m glad you agree. Use today to rest, so you’ll feel that much better for the show tomorrow,” Rian said.  
“You’re right, I just hate to let down the fans,” Alex replied.  
“We know, man. But, they’re our fans, they care about us. I bet they’d want you to rest and get better than to force yourself to do this,” Jack replied, making Alex smile some.  
“I guess you’re right. This is for the best, honestly. I don’t remember the last time my stomach felt this bad, and I feel like that could be really bad if I had to be there for hours at a time,” Alex said, thinking out loud.  
“You’re not wrong,” Zack replied.  
“Well, we’ll go tell our managers that we’re cancelling, then we’re supposed to go sightseeing with everyone,” Rian explained.   
“Do you want one of us to stay with you?” Jack offered.  
“Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ll probably just spend the whole time in here sleeping, or in there,” Alex replied, pointing to the bathroom.   
“Okay, man, we’ll head on then. Let us know if you need us,” Jack said, leading the three of them out of the room.   
Alex was disappointed that they had to cancel, but he knew it was for the best. He did feel awful, and he wanted to be as okay as he could be for their upcoming shows. Deciding that sleep would be best for him, he got comfortable, and dozed off.  
\----------  
About forty-five minutes later, Alex woke up in his sweat. He wanted to take off his blanket because of it but taking it off made it too cold. He coughed and rolled his eyes, then grabbed his phone from his nightstand. He decided to go onto Twitter. Partly to go through his timeline, and partly since he knew the band and venue accounts had announced that the signing was cancelled. He was a bit nervous to see the feedback on it, but he knew his fans. For the most part, they were all wonderful people.   
He went to the venue’s page, and clicked on the tweet they’d made, getting to the replies. The first one was someone telling him to feel better, which made him smile, and made him feel a bit more reassured. The next two were similar, but the one after that was quite different. The tweet said something about how they were disappointed and seemed very negative to Alex. He kept scrolling and was shocked by what he was reading.   
‘I flew in for this, I can’t believe they can just cancel like it’s nothing’  
‘The only think I was looking forward to isn’t happening now. What the fuck?’  
‘ATL always plays and does events, even if under the weather, why is now different?’  
‘Who else feels like Alex just doesn’t want to do the signing?’  
‘Big shoutout to ATL/Alex for letting us all down’  
That was just some of what Alex was seeing. He was surprised about the reaction. He figured people would be a bit disappointed, but he didn’t think people would be so angry with him for it. He didn’t ask to get sick enough to where they had to call it off. He felt absolutely miserable, and now the fans were making him feel bad for feeling bad. He decided to send out a tweet, which he apologized profusely in. He said that he wanted to do everything he could to feel better for the show the next night, then decided to get off Twitter for a bit, so the fans could read what he’d just sent out.   
He watched a ten-minute YouTube video, then decided to go back to Twitter. There were some understanding comments, but still quite a few people telling him that he’d disappointed him and made him out to be the bad guy. Alex felt some tears start to form in his eyes. He couldn’t understand why the fans couldn’t get it all. Usually, they were very understanding of shitty circumstances, so what made this situation so drastically different? He felt like a big letdown, and a disappointment. He wondered if they should’ve just done the signing, despite the circumstances. Sure, he had the stomach flu, but he probably could’ve just pushed through.   
Starting to feel more upset and anxious, Alex started to compose a new tweet. He talked about how he didn’t get why people were freaking out on him for this. That he knew it sucked, but that he was really sick, and didn’t want to risk giving it to others. He still felt anxious and followed up with another tweet saying that he’s only human, and that he was sorry again. After all of this, Alex physically felt about ten times worse. He felt sicker and was starting to go into an anxious spiral. Despite his efforts to stop them, more tears fell from his eyes.  
\--------  
“That was all so cool! I’m glad we were able to see more of the city today,” Rian said, as he, Jack and Zack walked from their car to the hotel.  
“True, but I wish Alex could’ve joined as well,” Zack replied.  
“Me too, I feel bad for him. Let’s see if he’s tweeted anything about the cancellation,” Jack suggested, pulling out his phone. As soon as he got to Twitter, he saw all of the tweets that Alex had sent out.   
“Hey guys, sit here with me and look at this. I think Alex got upset or something,” Jack said, leading the others to some chairs in the lobby. Jack showed the other two his phone with the tweets on it.  
“Oh damn, that’s not good,” Zack stated.  
“It looks like some people gave him shit for having to cancel. Look at the replies on the tweet from our account, and from the venue’s account,” Rian said, scrolling through everything.   
“Gosh, I’m actually stunned. Our fans are never like this,” Jack pointed out.  
“Yeah, you’d think they’d be understanding that he has the stomach flu,” Zack stated.  
“For sure. I bet he’s super upset. We should check up on him. Actually, you should do it, Jack. You’re best when it comes to helping him with stuff like this,” Rian explained.  
“I guess you’re right. Maybe while I’m talking to him, you guys could go to that deli he likes here and get some soup or something. I doubt he’s tried to eat anything,” Jack said.  
“That’s a good idea. We’ll come up to his room in about half an hour with some soup,” Rian replied.  
“And since we don’t have any other commitments today, we should all hangout with him after you talk to him. Maybe we can watch a movie?” Zack suggested.  
“Good idea. We’ll go get that soup, good luck, Jack,” Rian said. Jack gave them a small smile before they walked out of the hotel. Before going up, Jack decided to send out a tweet of his own. He apologized about the cancellation, but said that Alex was really sick, and that it was for the best.   
He went to the elevator, then up to their floor. From there, he went to Alex’s room and swiped the keycard to his door. He saw Alex in bed, wearing another layer, looking really upset. Jack walked over to the king-sized bed, getting Alex’s attention.  
“Hey man, how’re you feeling?” Jack asked, sitting at the foot of the bed.  
“I’ve been better,” Alex replied, coughing some.   
“I bet. I saw your tweets, and some of the fans’ tweets,” Jack continued. He immediately saw Alex’s face get sadder.   
“Yeah, it’s been a rough couple of hours, to be honest. We should’ve just done the signing. Then, maybe I wouldn’t be such a letdown,” Alex replied, coughing again.   
“Dude, you’re not a letdown, and I know you know that,” Jack started.  
“Really? I’ve gotten so many tweets of people saying that I ruined their day, and that they paid a bunch of money to come here for this,” Alex replied, sounding more upset as he continued talking.  
“Alex, it’s all okay. You have the stomach flu, it’s for the best we had to cancel. You don’t want to spread this shit,” Jack explained.  
“That’s true, but so many people are mad at me. Ever since we started this band, I’ve never had this many people upset with me. This is all my fault,” Alex said, starting to tear up some. Jack got up and sat next to his best friend, putting his arm around him.   
“Alex, none of this is your fault. You didn’t ask to get sick. I can tell you feel absolutely terrible. No one would wish this on themselves. The people complaining clearly don’t know how unwell you are. They probably think we just didn’t want to do the signing or something and used this as an excuse. I can almost guarantee that everyone freaking out right now probably isn’t a real fan, anyway. Our fans care about us, and they know that our health and well being is the top priority, no matter what. I’m sure you didn’t just see people being assholes, though, right?” Jack asked.  
“Yeah, there were quite a few people who told me to feel better, and all of that. Honestly, there were so many mean people, and all of them made me block out the tweets from the real fans. It just seemed like that was the only feedback I was receiving. I’ve never gotten this much hate all at once, until today,” Alex explained, sneezing.   
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us have, dude. I’m surprised so many people acted like that but fuck them. I bet if we go on Twitter right now, we’ll find some good people. Come on, let’s try,” Jack decided. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone.  
“I hope you’re right; I can’t deal with anymore hate,” Alex replied. Jack pulled up Alex’s most recent tweet and went to the replies. The two of them saw a bunch of tweets that were much more positive. Many people apologized for the people being rude and wished him well. It was a total switch from everything he’d seen earlier, and it made him feel much happier and reassured.  
“Isn’t this so much better?” Jack asked.  
“Yeah, it is. I wonder what made people change their tune so drastically,” Alex wondered.  
“They probably got the idea after your thousands of tweets. And, I sent something out, too, so maybe that slowed it down some,” Jack suggested.  
“Yeah, maybe. Either way, I’m glad that’s basically over. I hope we never have to cancel anything ever again,” Alex joked.  
“Me too, dude. I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better about everything now,” Jack said.  
“Same here, man. Hey, thanks for calming me down some, I would’ve just kept stressing myself out otherwise,” Alex replied.  
“No problem, man. I just wish I could help you feel better physically, too,” Jack stated.  
“Me too, but hopefully that’ll improve soon, too. I feel like absolute shit,” Alex said, coughing. Once he stopped, there was a knock at the door.  
“Who’s that?” Alex asked.  
“It’s a surprise!” Jack exclaimed, getting up. He got up, and answered the door, and Rian and Zack walked in.  
“We come with chicken noodle soup!” Rian stated.  
“Thanks you guys, that’ll feel nice on my throat,” Alex replied.  
“We also got you some popsicles. Not only will they keep you hydrated, but they’re also really fucking good,” Zack said, putting the bag he was holding in the freezer.  
“You guys are the best, thank you,” Alex said, smiling at his friends.  
“Of course dude, we’re a family,” Rian replied.  
“We don’t have anything else to do for the rest of the day, so we thought we’d all just hang out here with you. We can watch movies and stuff, and you can rest up for tomorrow night,” Jack explained.  
“I’d absolutely love that, but I don’t want to stop you guys from having a good time while we’re here,” Alex replied, sitting up some.  
“We’d rather be here with you, man. You’d do the same for any of us,” Rian replied. Alex smiled again as his bandmates got in his bed and turned on the TV. Jack handed Alex his soup, and he started to slowly eat it.  
“What do you want to watch, Alex?” Zack asked.  
“South Park? It’s on the On-Demand here,” Alex replied. They all agreed, and Zack put on an episode.  
“Seriously, thank you guys so much. I feel terrible physically, and felt just as bad mentally for a bit, so thank you guys for helping me cheer up some and feel better,” Alex said once he finished his soup.  
“No problem, dude. Your health always comes first,” Rian replied.  
“Yeah, and we’ll always be here to cheer you up when you need it,” Jack added. The four of them spent the rest of the day in Alex’s room, watching various shows and movies. Alex slept on and off throughout the day, which ended up helping him quite a bit.   
He still wasn’t over his stomach flu for their show the next day, but he felt a lot better than he would’ve if he’d forced himself to do the signing. The day was definitely a hard day for him, but he knew that his band was a wonderful support system and would always be there for him when he needed it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I wrote this about a month ago, and actually really liked it as I was writing it. I have about 15 more stories written up, ready to be posted, and I have a forever growing list of ideas for future stories, and there are about 25 ideas I plan on doing on it right now. Still, send in requests if you have them, because I'll make them top priority. I hope you liked this story! Lots of love, Liv.


End file.
